Surgery For Ovarian Cancer
- Before surgery, patients will go through CAT scans, blood work, and tumor markers
- Surgery can take up to 8 hours
- Recovery after surgery depends on the patient
How long will surgery take? “Your goal with a debulking surgery is to be able to resect all visible disease. That could take from 3 to 8 hours, depending on the extent of the disease.”
Read More “When you’re dealing with more extensive disease, a CT scan is not truly reflective of the disease we see at the time of surgery.” In addition, she says, “some surgeries may require a bowel resection, or two bowel resections, or resecting portions of the lining of the abdominal cavity.” After surgery, patients may spend time in intensive care, for close monitoring of fluid status. If blood loss is extensive, there’s a potential need for a transfusion. The patient may also need to be intubated on a ventilator for a day or two, to stabilize them. Recovery time will depend on the extent of the surgery, says Dr. Rasool. “If a bowel resection has been done, we need to wait for the bowels to recover as well, before a patient’s ready for a discharge,” she notes.
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